1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a unique cover assembly that is used in a machine or system typically employed for handling moving documents so as to be able to easily, safely and quickly remove jams resulting from the documents, and more particularly, to a housing having a cover pivotable on the housing which can be positioned in a locked/closed position or a locked/opened position.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
The prior art describes many different types of covers that open and close on document transporting machines and which enable a user to open up different parts of each of the machines, and thereby be able to clear jams that have occurred due to the moving documents. However, many of the cover assemblies described in the prior art are not able to define a machine cover arrangement that enables a user to easily, safely and quickly get to an area of the machine where a jam of the documents has occurred so as to easily, safely and quickly remove the jam and restart the document moving machine. Previously known solutions to removing jams in document transporting apparatus have required removing major parts of the document transporting apparatus to clear the jam. It is therefore very desirable to have a cover for a housing that is part of a document transporting apparatus that includes a handle feature thereon, that enables the cover to be easily opened, locked in the open position, and kept in an opened position so as to enable the user to safely remove a jam, and then easily close the cover and place the cover in a closed and locked position.
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages exhibited by the prior art and referred to above.
In accordance with the features of the present invention there is described a mechanism for freeing document jams in a machine that transports documents, the machine including a housing having an interior portion and a pivotable cover adapted to permit easy access to the interior portion of the machine housing, the cover pivoting from a closed and locked position to an open and locked position and being spring biased. The mechanism comprises a handle member positioned on the cover; a biased rod member having first and second end portions, the rod member being pivotable, but otherwise held fixed in the cover and mechanically coupled to the handle; and a slotted cam follower surface positioned on each opposite side of the housing, each surface having a bottom end portion and a top end portion, the first and second end portions of the rod coupled to each opposite side of the housing and adapted to follow the cam follower surfaces wherein the cover is positioned in the closed and locked position when the first and second end portions of the rod are positioned in the bottom end portion of the cam surface slot, and the cover is positioned in an open and locked position when the first and second end portions of the rod are positioned in the top end portion of the cam surface slot.
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to thereby provide an easy to use, safe and quick mechanism as described above for freeing document jams in a machine that feeds documents.